British Gas workers set to strike in Plymouth
Bosses at Centrica say they have offered a 'fair deal' to their employees
Last updated 29th Jan 2021
British Gas workers continue their strikes in Plymouth today – joining national action in what is ‘the biggest gas strike since the 1970s’.
GMB Union say it is in response to their employer’s threat to ‘fire and rehire’ the workforce of 20,000 people, if they do not accept their new terms and conditions.
It is reported that the changes to their terms and conditions included longer hours, no overtime pay, and reduced benefits.
In June, Centrica – who own British Gas - announced that it intended to cut 5,000 jobs and in July the company issued GMB with a Section 188 notice.
A Section 188 notice is where an employer is proposing to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less.
A consultative ballot of all GMB members within British Gas was conducted over the ‘fire and rehire’ threat. The results of that showed 94% were in favour of taking industrial action if the company did not remove its threat.
In Plymouth today (28 January), workers will be striking at some of the city’s landmarks: Smeaton’s Tower, Home Park, and Charles Cross roundabout.
Dan is an Engineer working for British Gas and he told Greatest Hits Radio Plymouth that negotiations with the company will not restart until the threat of ‘fire and rehire’ is removed:
“We’re very stressed at the moment, it’s caused a huge amount of anxiety within the workforce. People are very worried about how these changes are going to affect them going forward. We stand to lose potentially £10,000-£15,000 a year in lost salaries.”
Dan explained that the main proposals will see engineers having to work an extra 150 hours a year without extra pay.
Centrica PLC recorded a group-wide operating profit of £901 million in 2019, the company’s accounts reveal.
GMB also added that the company’s CEO Chris O’Shea – who started in April 2020 – is due to take home an annual package worth almost £800,000.
GMB say the cuts made to staffs’ terms and conditions is ‘as old-style exploitation as you can get’:
“No negotiation can ever be conducted in a fair and balanced way when the employer attacks the rights of its workers to bargain and negotiate collectively through their trade union.”
GMB are currently campaigning in Parliament and in December, 140 MPS wrote to O’Shea calling on him to take away the threat to British Gas workers and negotiate an agreement with the union.
In response to the action being taken by staff and the GMB Union, a spokesperson from Centrica said:
“Our business needs to change to survive and protect 20,000 jobs. We know change is difficult, but we have offered a fair deal that has been negotiated over 300 hours with unions – where base pay and pensions are protected. 83% of our employees have already agreed to the new terms.’
“The GMB spent 300 hours helping us to shape this deal, then when negotiations closed did a last-minute U-turn and didn’t put a neutral recommendation to members as they had previously said.
“The GMB keep saying engineers will not be paid for the 3 extra hours – this is not true. As part of the deal an engineer who achieves his customer targets will earn at least 7.5% more than he currently does through a productivity bonus.
“We’ve ensured we have contingency plans in place so that we can be there for customers who really need us and will focus on vulnerable and emergencies.”
On the legal Section 188 process – known as ‘fire and rehire’ – the company have stressed that this is a ‘last resort’:
“Centrica has to make significant changes to reverse years of decline. Changes to the regulatory environment and increased competition has seen us lose millions of customers and profits have fallen sharply – our Unions acknowledged this during months of talks.”
It is understood that workers have until March 31 to sign their new contracts, with more strike action planned in February.